Oh Noes!

Back in 2000, Production IG created a 48 minute animated masterpiece about a morally ambiguous vampire slayer named Saya infiltrating a US military base during the Vietnam war on the hunt for hideous shape-shifting vampires. Beyond the main plot of the original Blood: The Last Vampire, there’s plenty of depth to the short film as it touched on Japan/U.S. relations as they pertained to war in a post-World War Japan (arguably like most post-war Japanese movies), race wars, a look back at Japanese history and more. Then wrapped this all up in a glorious presentation that blended cutting edge technology and masterful traditional animation in a way the world had never before seen.

So fantastic was this 48 minute film, it’s managed to spawn a manga one-off, a popular animated series called Blood+, and from that a new manga series based on Blood+… All of which I’ve consumed in hopes for more glimpses of the original brilliance.

Unfortunately, that was never the case… yet none of the extensions that came before have so completely shit the bed as the newly released live action adaptation of the original film.

One of the best things about the original was it’s insistence on making the world feel real, almost mundane. As though everything was just as you’d expect it to be in 1966, except lurking in the shadows were evil forces that would pull you up a tree and eat your head if you went walking after dark. This new version eschews reality based fear in favor of over-the-top, cliche vampires brandishing pipes as weapons (WTF?) that at times was quite reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Saya acquires a pathetically uninspired backstory of her father being killed by the “oldest, vilest demon” who (not really a spoiler since it’s so telegraphed) is actually her mother! Cue dramatic music!

Then there’s the transformed vampires. In the original, they were scary, bone-creaking abominations… In this version, it seems like they borrowed an old model from a 1970′s Sinbad film, popped some wings on it, then used the same model for two very different characters!

And don’t get me started on the CG blood splurts.

Oh, and the addition of some random white girl who does nothing but scream, get in the way and spout the most laughable dialogue literally had my fellow theater goers openly mocking her. The audience making fun of the film was actually the highlight of my experience.

Anyway, I should remember to re-watch the original so at least something good comes from this terrible, creaky and most certainly vile abomination.

Finally finished watching Michiko E Hatchin last night and I must say I love it when shows like this come along.

Michiko E Hatchin does a great job as something of the stylistic successor to Cowboy Bebop. It takes all the great music, the heat of the dessert, the humidity of the jungle, the serenity of the seaside villages and the frenetic pacing of the cities; wraps it all in vibrant South American colors and culture then tells an at times hilarious, painful and heart-warming story.

It certainly has me itching to visit Brazil.

I should remember to look out for more shows like this that break the typical Japanese anime mold… oh, and get down to Brazil as soon as possible.

So, yeah… Hit Korea on business for what was supposed to be 5 days but turned out to be 8. There were some ups and some downs, but at least I managed to get some time on the weekend to see some of Seoul and take some photos. Of course, I didn’t get up to the DMZ after all that discussion, but…

I should remember to check it out next time!

Well, seems like I’ll be going to Seoul, South Korea on business next week.

I should remember to see as much as I can… including their neighbors to the north.

California Literary Review: North Korean Propaganda Posters

Maybe these are getting better… Hmm… I need to remember to keep trying.

With the West Indian Day Parade in just a couple of days, it’s easy for my mind to linger on all things Caribbean. It’s such a great feeling to be able to go just a few blocks away and have such a mass of people from all over the West Indies, all the fantastic roti, all the great sorrel, all the ginger beer, all the maubi, all the music, all the colors, all the dancing and, of course, all the women in their tiny outfits jumping up to soca booming out of the flat bed mounted speakers in their bands.

What I didn’t know is that Japan also has it’s own fete! This one, called the Asakusa Samba Carnival, has a bit more of a twist… 99% of the participants are Japanese!! (Could you imagine if in New York they held the same thing will all the music, dancing, etc… except that 99% of the people were white?) Anyway, this is just another reason to go back to Japan. I simply would have to see this to believe it. Until then, these photos on Flickr and a video on CNN will have to do.

I have to remember to get over there next year!

(Photo by Olly Denton)

The Metal Gear Solid series may have lost my interest towards the beginning of the 3rd game, but it seems like MSG4 is shaping up to be an amazing game and arguably the first platform defining moment for the Playstation 3. The above, newly released demo footage of the game running live on Playstation hardware is simply amazing. Nothing on the Xbox 360 even comes close.

I need to remember to keep watching how MSG4′s progressing and maybe even get a PS3 when Snake hits the shelves for the last time.

Seeing trailers like the one above lured me into purchasing Tenchu Z… That and the idea of being a bad-ass-ninja™. Well, Tenchu Z certainly delivers on the promise of being bad ass, but also completely doesn’t.

First, how it delivers: it’s rare in video games to find something you find yourself doing often as satisfying as pulling off “stealth kills” are in this game. Damn near every time you do it, a smile creeps across your face. It’s hard to resist. It’s that cool.

Second how it doesn’t: there’s barely any story and unless you’re killing someone stealthily, you better just run away and try sneaking up again. I dunno, I would imagine a bad-ass-ninja™ would be as good in a straight up fight as he would be sneaking around. The makers of this game disagree.

At any rate, I should remember to finish Tenchu Z if not to see how the weak story ends, then at least to enjoy stealthily poking thugs from the shadows with my katana.

I ran across a link to the Vexille movie site today, so I thought I should remind myself to check it out. Cinematical says:

According to a glowing review over at Twitch, Vexille is about a future where android technology becomes forbidden once lines between technology and humanity cross. Everyone signs the UN treaty but Japan, who secludes themselves from the world, kicking out foreigners and masking themselves from electronic/satellite surveillance. After 10 years of seclusion, a Daiwa (Japanese robotic company) executive comes to meet with international politicians. Vexille, a female op based in LA, discovers the politicians dead, that the Daiwa is a cyborg and then must infiltrate Japan to stop the company and save the world.

Sounds good and the visuals look great! Too bad it opens in August in Japan… and who-knows-when in the states. Oh well, at least I can remember to look out for it.

Since coming back from Japan, I’ve been trying to steer clear of Japanese food since I felt like I almost OD’d over there, but one thing I didn’t get nearly as much of as I hoped while there was anime. So, I finally checked out Satoshi Kon’s latest movie, Paprika and I gotta say… it was awesome, like nothing I had ever seen before.

I could get into the plot and it’s science fiction aspects, but none of that is really important. The movie is about concepts more than direct this happens after that. Additionally, it’s just gorgeous. The art style had evolved slightly from his older movies, so it took about 5 minutes to get accustomed to the color palette, but from then on it was so much eye-candy!

When I walked out of the theatre, the only way I could describe what I thought of the film was that it was like Lucky Charms. That is to say: “Magically Delicious!”

I gotta remember to buy the DVD as soon as possible!